1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to hurled implements of a sharpened variety. In particular, it relates to darts having bladed heads and elongated shafts. This dart is capable of being hurled or fired from a specially designed slingshot. This dart is equipped with a special engagement between the slingshot and the dart for drawings and releasing. The dart can be equipped with a special drawstring to that it can be pulled back in the slingshot for firing at the appropriate target.
Many manually drawn weapons such as compound bows and related devices require relatively high strength from the user of the weapon in order to gain the maximum force possible with the weapon. Traditionally, it has been standard procedure to draw a bowstring, slingshot sling or the like with the fingers of one hand. However, this requires a tremendous amount of strength from the fingers and it is very difficult for the user to simultaneously provide the required accuracy.
To overcome this limitation, many persons are using a mechanical release devvice which may be secured to the wrist and releases the bowstring or sling with a trigger, thus eliminating the need for very high finger strength. However, such devices cannot be attached directly to an arrow or projectile, but only to a bowstring. This prevents the use of such mechanical release devices with other types of manually drawn weapons, such as various types of slingshots. In order to use such a mechanical release means directly with a projectile, the projectile would require a special provision in order for such a mechanical release device to be directly attachable. The present invention provides such release means in its various embodiments.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The following patents are felt to be related to, but do not disclose the present invention, whether taken singly or in combination.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,401,938 issued to Bear discloses an arrow with a detachable head threadedly mounted on a hollow shaft by means of an anchor therein. The blades on this device are not separable as they are on the applicant's dart projectile.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,109,915 issued to Bottelsen discloses a dart that can fall apart upon penetration-induced impact, leaving the detachable point in the target. Again, the device disclosed by this patent does not use separable blades that mount into a hub on the end of the shaft.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,795,165 issued to Tehan discloses a foldable arrow with a hollow shaft the two sections of which are held together by a rope secured therein.
None of above patents addresses a dart having means to pull the dart back in a launching device that is attached to the head of the dart. None of the above cited references disclose a projectile head comprised of a plurality of separable blades attached together at a central hub. This separability of blades allows for replacing damaged blades without having to replace the entire head of the dart. The head is easily released upon being retained in an impacted object when the special launching engagement is used. The head having the blades disconnects from the shaft without great effort.